The poem The Cold Within by James Patrick Kinney is a satire on human nature of discrimination. The poet is sick of seeing how people are divided all over the world over petty barriers like class, caste, colour, ethnicity, religion, gender and other prejudices.

Through this poetic parable, the poet criticizes the selfish and prejudiced nature of the entire human race. He attributes their death to the cold in their hearts, not to the cold atmosphere outside.

The six characters in the poem are representatives of people who share the same ideals. Kinney gives a reminder to the mankind that if we selfishly hold on to world’s resources and if we persist in discriminating on such narrow grounds, we are all lost.